James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for her ongoing interest. We have had a few exchanges in the Dáil, which I welcome. She touched on a few of these topics there as well. That is very useful.

Digs accommodation is an important part of the package but it is only one option among others. It has a useful role to serve. On its regulation, there is a licence agreement, which is available and encouraged by my Department, that is taken up by digs providers and students. The colleges also support that and make it available. It is optional and not mandatory. In a situation where people might have a spare room, such as an elderly person or people in different situations, and are considering making it available as digs accommodation, overregulation might have the effect of that accommodation being withdrawn from the market altogether. Getting that balance right is part of the challenge of digs.

The rent pressure zone proposals announced yesterday are obviously very new to all of us. I was at Cabinet when we were briefed on it, but I will meet the Minister, Deputy Browne, in the next couple of weeks to thrash out the student accommodation aspects of that and see how it will work in terms of the student experience. We will make sure that it works for students. That is ultimately what it has to do. The student accommodation piece is a subset of the wider housing piece. It has many common challenges but many unique points as well. I am aware of that.

On adult educators and the ETBs - correct me if I am wrong and the Deputy is talking about something else - the industrial relations issue in the ETBs to date has largely been about the new grade of adult educator and the recognition of that as its own unique role. It is not that of a teacher or tutor but an adult educator, which is a particular function and occupation, that is being offered to those who want to avail of it. I am happy with that. I recommended it as an option. As far as I am concerned, that is an option that I support and endorse. Ultimately, however, it is not mandatory that any particular worker must go onto that grade, but the option is there for workers to do that. There is a responsibility on the ETBs to make sure they are equipped to make that transition. Some of them have been faster than others at doing so. Some of them have not embraced it in the way they should. I am very unhappy with that. I have limited recourse in terms of actions, but there are one or two ETBS that could be moving a lot faster to adopt that grade and make it available to their staff. I am very aware of that.